Numerical simulation investigation on hydration heat temperature and early cracking risk of concrete box girder in cold regions

The temperature change caused by hydration leads to early-age cracking in concrete box girder.The early-age cracking risk is further improved with low air temperature and large daily temperature difference,especially in Northwest China.To fill this gap,a temperature experiment and numerical simulation were performed on an actual concrete box girder segment in Northwest China.The temperature field,thermal stress and cracking risk were analyzed using evolution curves,distribution curves and contours.The key parameters that influence the hydration heat temperature,including the cement hydration heat release,cement content,height-width ratio of web,initial temperature,convective coefficient of top plate surface,were analyzed.An anti-cracking case based on parameters analysis was put forward.The results indicated that the temperature evolution can be divided into three stages:warming,cooling and environment significantly impacting.Along the thickness of each plate,temperature distributed is single peak in the center.Along the width or height,temperature distributed is double peaks at axillary position for the top and bottom plates,and single peak in center for the web.The axillary position and web have high thermal stress and significant cracking risks.The temperature difference of each plate,and the early-age cracking risk can be reduced by effectively adjusting the key parameters.Among these,the former two parameters are the most significant factors.The maximum cracking risk can be decreased by 15.7%for every 50 kJ/kg hydration heat reduction.The maximum cracking risk can be decreased by 13.1%for every 50 kg/m^(3)cement content reduction.

Study on the Girder-End Displacement of a Suspension Bridge Based on Field Measurements

The load-response correlation is a great concern for the management and maintenance agency of bridges. Based on both the load test data and the long-term structural health monitoring data, this study aims to characterize the variation in the girder-end longitudinal displacement of a long-span suspension bridge, i.e., the Zhaoyun Bridge in Guangdong Province of China. The load test provides a valuable chance to investigate the structural deformation in high loading levels, while the structural health monitoring system records the real-time, in-site, and long-term measurements in the normal operational stage of bridges. During the load test, the movement direction of the main girder is found to depend on the relative position of the center of gravity of the girder and the loading vehicles. However, over the period of normal operation, the quasi-static displacement at the ends of the main girder along the bridge axis is dominated by the temperature variations, rather than the traffic loading. The temperature-induced deformation is considerable so it should be filtered out from the structural total responses to highlight the live load effects or the anomalies of the bridge. As a case study, the temperature-displacement baseline model of the Zhaoyun Bridge is established and then utilized to identify the erroneous measurements in the structural health monitoring system. This paper serves as a reference for the structural behavior interpretation and performance evaluation of similar bridges.